Early Saturday morning we heard a loud ruckus going on in our backyard. This noise was the most intense dog barking…like a dog fight was going on. We don’t own any dogs, so we knew something bad was happening out in the back yard. We got dressed and went outside. Just as we got out there the 2 dogs took off. They belong to neighbors a few houses down and apparently had gotten out.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a little movement in our one sea grass area. I walked over to find a badly injured baby possum. The baby couldn’t get up…couldn’t run away. You could tell by looking at it that it had sustain some serious injuries. We knew we had to try to find medical help for the little guy. I put some food and a little dish of water nearby…in case he could scoot over to get it. Unfortunately he couldn’t.
I sat outside with the baby possum while my wife spent 90 minutes calling local agencies and wildlife centers trying to find some help. It was during a weekend and no one was answering phone calls, texts or emails. We were very frustrated because as time went on…the baby was getting worse. Finally, we found a wildlife center 90 minutes away who said they would try to help but we had to transport since we weren’t local to them.
To protect myself…I put on old clothing and wore thick gloves. I placed the baby in a cat carrier with old towels. It didn’t try to fight or bite me at all. We drove the 90 minutes to the wildlife center. They immediately took a look at the baby and determined that the injuries were too severe and the baby was barely alive at that point. We all decided the best thing to do was to humanely euthanize. We were devasted after trying for several hours trying to save the little guy.
Before we headed home…we said a prayer for the possum and made a donation to the wildlife center. It was a very sad situation but I’m proud that my wife and I tried to help. We did everything that we could.
When you find injured wildlife….please don’t just walk away or look the other way. There are usually organizations, centers, animal control officers, rehab people, vets, etc. who may try to help. Reach out to them…try to get that animal some help. Every life is precious…human and animal!